Reviews
Bror min och jag (1953)
Deservedly forgotten, yet fascinating in its ineptitude
It would be interesting to know how this film came to be produced. It largely follows a kind of patent formula for Swedish lowbrow comedy that was once successful (at the box office, if not with the critics) but had become thoroughly outdated already in the mid-forties. Most of the attempts at humour fall flat, the songs are terrible, the story line is meandering and the conclusion pointless. It frequently seems that the two "stars" of this film are rather shamelessly - and with very little success - trying to copy Laurel and Hardy's act (there's even a similar "signature tune"). The result is a total mess, with a couple of genuinely funny moments. This film must have been a cinematic dinosaur already at the premiere. Points of interest: An introductory, narrated presentation of the city of Uppsala as it looked in the early fifties, and a cast with several famous Swedish comedians (mostly in bit parts).
The Brown Bunny (2003)
The patient viewer is rewarded
"Brown bunny" is about loneliness beyond what most people will ever know, of the dreadful feeling that your life disastrously is over, but you still have to go on living somehow. While you watch this movie, you will not understand this. Chances are you will not understand very much at all, and be tempted to change the channel. That would be a mistake. One must have faith in the strange genius of Vincent Gallo and trust that he knows what he is doing, even when it seems that the film is going nowhere and taking forever to get there. It pays off. Not that you are going to feel good afterwards, but perhaps you will value what you have in your own life, however little that may be. I watch a lot of movies, but this is the only time in my adult age that I couldn't sleep afterwards - as the few and very understated plot elements were still falling into place, I felt as if I had witnessed a train crash, and couldn't stop thinking frightening thoughts of what a fragile thing our comfort and happiness is.
The movie would not have worked if it had been faster paced, dropped hints along the way, or contained more than the bare rudiments of a story. In this particular case, a "spoiler" will really, totally spoil the film - this rare masterpiece has nothing in common with your average Saturday evening entertainment, it must be watched unhurriedly and without any pre-conceived ideas or expectations.
Die Story von Monty Spinnerratz (1997)
A fable from the sewers
Die Story von Monty Spinnerratz, or A Rat's Tale as it is named in English, is a strangely naive, unpretentious German puppet movie featuring some known American actors in minor parts. The production is in many ways extremely simple, on par with TV programs for very young children. No attempt at all has been made to camouflage the strings that move the puppets; while they could easily have been made of fine transparent nylon, they are in fact plain, black thread that stands out against the background. The puppets themselves, while individually designed, have a single, fixed facial expression and look exactly like the scruffy plush toys they are, and the "Canalligator" looks as if it is made of painted cardboard, which it probably is. One gets the impression that this reflects a conscious decision by the film makers to dispense with any attempt at illusion, rather than ineptitude. Especially as there are a few competently done and rather pretty optical effects in the humanly acted scenes, showing that the film wasn't made entirely on a shoestring. The plot matches the production, being a rather simplistic story about love, courage, kindness and freedom from prejudice - among rats, and to some extent also alligators and men. A story fit for small children, with a moral that it takes no subtlety to comprehend. Yet there is something likable about the film, something that can appeal to adults as well. Perhaps I admire the stubbornness and courage it must have taken to produce and market a film like this, or maybe I like to occasionally see simple storytelling without a multi-million dollar budget squandered on special effects and exotic locations. Perhaps I just sympathise with the idea that there is a place for films that aren't cool and hip and controversial and spectacular, but just nice in a very modest and subdued way. In any case I'm glad, and somewhat surprised, that utterly unlikely films like this can be made in our time and day.